Spoilery Book Reviews

The Plated Prisoner Series by Raven Kennedy

Back of the first book (Gild)

This is the story of King Midas.

Or that's what we're always told. The Golden King with his palace of riches and me, the girl he turned to gold.

Upon the snowy mountains in the Sixth Kingdom of Orea, I'm locked away in Highbell Castle. Away from the dangers of the world below.

No one can get in.

Apart from him.

King Midas rescued me from the streets. He gave me food, shelter, and his heart. I promised to love him forever.

But when war comes to the kingdom, a deal is struck – and I am at the heart of the bargain.

Everything I know starts to change. My love for Midas challenged, my trust broken.

Suddenly, I am sent to travel between kingdoms to a future I no longer understand and my spirit becomes truly tested.

I'm always told this is his tale.

But perhaps that is no longer the case...it's mine.

My thoughts.

Book one was much too short to write a complete review on, but five books deep so much has happened the events blur into one giant story. The only comments I had after the first book were: I didn't love the writing and was tired of the damsel in distress story. The writing improved with every book and there was just enough mystique after Gild that I held out hope. Not everything was quite as it seemed and I needed to know why.

This story grew more magnificent with every book and I blitzed through reading them in less than a week. It feels wrong to admit this, but I liked the dark elements of the story, horrific conditions, cruel treatment of women, skewed gender roles in the monarchy... They created so much to fight for, hurdles to overcome, battles to face for equality and power.

Perhaps I've read too many books of this genre but I instantly knew Commander Rip was destined to be Auren's love interest. I did not expect Rip and King Rot as the same, but I did guess that Auren was fae. The love between Auren and Slade is amazing, the sex scenes perfect, and the moral greyness that is introduced around book five gives me energy. I love reading about and rooting for a character who is not the good guy in all circumstances. Slade will rot the entire kingdom as punishment for losing Auren and I love this dynamic to his character, the whole story really. Making the distinction between good guys and bad guys less clear in that the characters we love are engaging in atrocious acts.

I did not enjoy Malina's POV and always wanted to get back to Auren's story. Then her little sub-plot and sob story of being chased from the kingdom became a major piece in the main plot when she fixed the bridge to Lemuria. As the tension between Malina and Dommik heated up they quickly became my new favourites. It was a little corny that from every POV the characters have some form of love arc happening, but the wildly dark threat-flirting between Malina and Dommik kept me entertained.

I loved everything about this series and I can't wait to read them again, although I have so many other books to read first. I have been left in agony waiting for the next one to come out in September, for which I will definitely do a re-read.

My only criticisms were the writing did not begin great, a bit plain, but the author improved with every book and the plot was so grand the writing stopped mattering. I was frustrated at the damsel in distress tale of the first book, but in retrospect I see that was necessary for Aurens' arc. Not every woman is born a badass, sometimes she has to find it within herself. I love that Auren was the one to kill Midas.

I can barely fault this series because I am so in love with it. I will not loudly recommend this to anyone because it is dark, involves a lot of prejudice against women and sex workers and rape kind of themes. But I loved this story and I hope others out there felt the same joy I did while reading.

TL:DR

My next favourite romantasy series, highly recommend for fans of SJM series and Fourth Wing. Had every element you could want, oppression of women who fight back to rise up, finding self-worth and mind-shattering sex.